Southern Vermont

From Left: The Elm Street Market, Robert Frost Stone House Museum.

extends from the Massachusetts-Vermont state line in Pownal to Manchester, which was once a summer retreat but is now a four-season leisure and shopping destination. The central hub is Bennington, with its walkable downtown filled with shops, restaurants, galleries, and historic architecture (and oldfashioned streetlights). But its location within the depths of the Green Mountain Forest Reserve makes this area an outdoor recreational paradise—hiking, biking, swimming, kayaking, fishing, you name it. Oh, and did we mention there are covered bridges?

EAT/DRINK Calling all locavores: Southern Vermont is crawling with small, family farms and restaurants that proudly herald the provenance of the foods on their seasonal menus.

There are plenty of places to slake your thirst in bustling Bennington (it is a college town). After a major downtown redevelopment, a new brewpub, Farm Road Brewing, now occupies one of the corners of the town’s central crossroads, joining Madison Brewing Company, The Dutchman’s Tavern, 421 Craft Bar & Kitchen, and The Miller’s Toll Dinner Club & Lounge in serving up craft beer and cocktails, plus tasty vittles in handsome settings. For “eclectic Italian,” head to Allegro. The Blue Benn Diner has reopened under new owners: this classic 1940s railcar diner is great for breakfast and lunch and has a menu for all tastes. The Elm Street Market is the place for “serious sandwiches, salads, and more.”

For lunch, Sunday brunch, or dinner, the Mt. Anthony Country Club offers locally sourced seasonal dishes and beautiful views. More views (and steakhouse fare) can be had from The Publyk House. At the bottom of the hill in the village of North Bennington, The Roasted Bean is a haven for a good cup of coffee and, next door, The Pangaea Lounge offers terrace dining overlooking a millpond. Or rub elbows with locals at Kevin’s Sports Pub & Restaurant.

In Manchester, a range of restaurants cater to visitors and locals , from the tavern-style Firefly (choice of locals) to tonier establishments like Social House on Depot Road Street; Mistral’s, located at the last (or first, depending on which direction you are traveling) toll gate in Vermont; and the Copper Grous, inside the Taconic Hotel.

SHOP In the 19th century, Bennington emerged as an important and innovative industrial center, a heritage it still proudly continues. Timber frames, airplane components, snowshoes, craft beer, jewelry, and stoneware from famous Bennington Potters are among the many products manufactured here. The Potters’ funky-elegant retail store is located right next to where its wares are made. The physical store is closed at present, but the online shop is open.

Other local faves include Catamount Glass (check out their glass popcorn poppers!) and Fiddlehead at Four Corners (artisanal wares). Fine Vermont jewelry and crafts are for sale at Hawkins House on North Street in Bennington. Catamount Glass on County Street is a glass factory with a retail shop (and an on-site restaurant called Tap House).

Downtown Bennington has its own bragging rights: Jay’s Art Shop is the largest independently owned art supply store in the state; the recently relocated Bennington Bookstore is the oldest independent bookstore. Quilters will not want to pass up The Scarlet Creation for supplies and classes. W. Collective is a relatively new boutique selling gifts and home goods.

Bringing You Vermont is stocked with all things Green Mountain State (think maple syrup). Antiques are for sale at Main Street Antiques, The Owl’s Nest, and Monument Vintage. Got a sweet tooth? There’s The Village Chocolate Shop or Vermont Confectionery, both on Main Street.

In North Bennington, stop by The Alpaca Shack for handknit apparel and accessories—and meet the cute critters that produce the yarn. Or drive south on Route 7 to Apple Barn & Country Bake Shop for a bakery and farm stand—and you-pick blueberries come July.

Park-McCullough Historic Governor’s Mansion.

If you’re “from away” and are thinking of buying and running a Vermont country store like the wonderful 200-year-old Dorset Union Store (and bakery) on the green, read Ellen Stimson’s Mud Season first; she bought and ran that very store and lived to write (and laugh) about it.

Charles F. Orvis got it started in 1856 when he opened a store dedicated to fly-fishing and accessories for the great outdoors. The flagship store is still in Manchester, and it has the distinction of being the oldest still-operating mail order business in America. Manchester Designer Outlets is home to many leading clothing brands, whose easy-to-get-to stores make bargain hunting a pleasure. For books and gifts, there’s the well-stocked Northshire Bookstore in the center of town, which hosts frequent readings by leading writers. There are also stores for cooks, wine-lovers, art-lovers, antique-hunters, and for sports enthusiasts of every stripe.

SEE The Bennington Battle Monument prevails over the landscape from its perch in Old Bennington. The Bennington Museum is home to the largest exhibit of paintings by Grandma Moses (Anna Maria Robertson) in the world. If you bring children, be sure to take them into the transplanted schoolhouse where the artist learned her ABCs in the 1860s; it’s meant to be played in as well as learned from.

The stunning, white Georgian buildings of Bennington College frame a breathtaking vista of Mount Anthony—no wonder it’s called The End of the World. The College’s evening literary programming is open to the public, while across the street the Prospect Street Writers House holds monthly readings by its artists in residence. The Vermont Arts Exchange has resumed its public events, as has the Oldcastle Theater Company, now in its own building, Bennington Performing Arts Center, near the center of town.

The fanciful Park-McCullough Historic Governor’s Mansion in North Bennington was built in 1865 with money made in California and Panama by an attorney who had grown up in the modest town of Woodford, just east of Bennington. The trails in the adjacent McCullough Woods are a popular spot for walking. The mansion’s grounds are open daily; “The Big House” is open for self-guided tours Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Robert Frost bought an old stone farmhouse in South Shaftsbury just north of Bennington in 1920 (and remained in Vermont until he died in 1963). The house has been turned into the Robert Frost Stone House Museum. You can visit his gravesite, too, behind the beautiful Old First Church.

Robert Todd Lincoln’s historic home, Hildene, perched on an escarpment, overlooks the Valley of Vermont; don’t miss the deeply moving President Lincoln exhibit upstairs or the fully restored Pullman car, queen of the railroading era and a stop on Vermont’s African American Heritage Trail, a short walk from the main dwelling.

The Dorset Theatre Festival has, over the past decade, become a national incubator for new playwrights; its renovated playhouse incorporates three original barns, which predate the Revolutionary War.

The Southern Vermont Arts Center comprises a stateof-the-art museum and the largest sculpture garden in the state, plus an impressive permanent collection of 19th and 20th century works. The Manchester Music Festival will again be presenting live chamber music and more this summer. The American Museum of Fly Fishing displays an impressive number (as in thousands) of flies, rods, and reels to inspire anyone to pull on some waders and cast off.

STAY If you make Bennington your headquarters, you can choose among The Four Chimneys Inn, a stately bed and breakfast; South Shire Inn, “a little hotel” in an 1887 Victorian estate; quaint and quiet Paradise Inn (with its own pickleball courts); and the more affordable Bennington Motor Inn—all within walking distance of the downtown scene. There’s also a Hampton Inn in Hannaford Square and retro-chic Knotty Pines Motel.

Arlington, just above Shaftsbury on Route 7A, is home to the woodsy West Mountain Inn, the stately Arlington Inn, and the Rockwell’s Retreat; the painter Norman Rockwell lived and worked in a house and studio near a covered bridge over the Battenkill before moving south to Stockbridge in the ’50s.

Hotels, inns, and B&Bs abound in Manchester, led by the likes the Mt. Equinox Resort, The Inn at Manchester, and The Reluctant Panther Inn. Some, like the Wilburton Inn and the Barnstead Inn, also host musical events. Kimpton Taconic is the area’s newest boutique hotel.

Neighboring Sunderland—just north of Arlington and south of Manchester—offers two Battenkill-side accommodations: The 50-acre Hill Farm Inn has nature trails, cuddly animals, and killer views; and Ira Allen House has antique-filled rooms in the namesake’s historic home. In the fateful summer of 1776, the idea of Vermont as an independent republic was born in Cephas Kent’s tavern. In today’s Dorset, the aura of the 18th century lingers. The tavern is no more, but the splendid Dorset Inn has dominated the town green since 1796.